How does she get there?

Alice’s adventures in both books are in fantasy worlds. She gets to Wonderland by falling into a rabbit hole (more on that later). Through a looking glass (mirror) is how she obviously gets into that second fantasy world.

The Games

Lewis Carroll, besides being an author, was a mathematician, and loved inventing games. Carroll uses the theme of playing cards in AIW and of chess in TLG. In Looking Glass, actually finds herself in the midst of a chess game that is spread out over the countryside.

Characters

The March Hare and the Mad Hatter, and Dinah, Alice’s cat are the only characters in both books besides Alice. Alice, by the way, was based on a real little girl that Carroll knew. He was also the first children’s author to license his characters for use on other products.

There are at least 5 stage adaptations, the first, an 1886 musical. There are 2 operas, 1 ballet, and another musical called Wonder.Land that premiered in 2015.

The first motion picture of Alice was in 1903, and there are at least 25 film and TV adaptations including both animated and live-action movies, made for television movies and miniseries and one x-rated musical.

Among other things, Alice has influenced music, video games, and Disney.

Are you sick?

No, I’m not suggesting that you googled the x-rated version of Alice in Wonderland. But perhaps you have a disorienting neurological condition that affects human perception and size distortion called Alice in Wonderland syndrome.

See if you use any of these phrases that originated with these 2 books, and a sentence using them:

Down the rabbit hole: If you’ve ever been on the internet, ahem, you have found yourself falling down the rabbit hole.

Mad as a hatter: You must be mad as a hatter to think you’ll win the lottery.

Cheshire Cat Grin: She was grinning like a Cheshire cat when she won the lottery.

I’m late, I’m late, for a very important date: Well, of course you are. That phrase pretty much stands alone.

What a strange world we live in (Alice said to the Queen of Hearts) as the GOP debates get curiouser and curiouser (Alice said as she began to grow and grow after eating the cake). Will our country really be run by Tweedledee and Tweedledum (characters in the Looking Glass)?

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How many Alice in Wonderland/Looking Glass characters can you name even if you haven’t read either book?